Kevin Pietersen’s England career is over. Ultimately, he ran out of allies
during the two days in which the final decision was made to cut adrift
England’s leading run-scorer across all formats. Even Alastair Cook, the
young captain who had taken Pietersen back into the fold after the
retirement of Andrew Strauss, now wants to rebuild an England team without
him.

The key figures were Paul Downton, the new managing director of England
cricket; Ashley Giles, the acting head coach, who flew into London on Monday
evening and met Downton on Tuesday; James Whitaker, the national selector,
and Cook. They